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Dave Quinn of Hazle Township can't stand to see people abusing the public welfare system and other assistance programs, when truly needy people can't get help.

A frequent letter-to-the-editor writer, Quinn says he has seen the abuse in area stores with people paying for cart-loads of meat with ACCESS, or assistance, cards. He suspects these people are reselling the meat.

"The laws don't apply to them," Quinn said. "You can almost tell who has (the cards), because they don't look at the prices."

Some have multiple ACCESS cards, he said, and recounted how he watched a couple pay for carts-full of groceries with assistance cards, pay cash for two 80-inch televisions at Walmart, and get into a luxury sport utility vehicle with a New Jersey license plate.

"It doesn't seem fair to me," Quinn said.

State Rep. Tarah Toohil, R-116, Bulter Township, thought the stories she heard about welfare fraud and abuse, such as a woman buying steak for her dog when a dog food purchase was denied on the card, were urban legends when she first ran for office, she said.

She learned these aren't tall tales, but true accounts, and constituents, such as Quinn, want and deserve action, she said.

"Property taxes, welfare fraud and jobs - these are the three biggest things in this area," Toohil said. "So, that has been my focus."

Since taking office, Toohil has worked to chip away at the abuses, she said, coming up with legislative reforms and administrative solutions to ease the burden on Pennsylvania taxpayers.

"People in Harrisburg try to tell me there's no problem, but people in Hazleton will tell you that there is."

One reform she supported was the elimination of cash assistance for individuals, who still qualify for medical assistance and food stamps under the state program.

"In this district, that was what people wanted. The cash assistance is what really gets people here upset," Toohil said. "They're working so hard and having to live on a budget and can't purchase the things that they want, and you have people taking out cash (from the cards) and buying things."

Cash assistance was eliminated in August 2012. In fiscal year 2011-12, nearly 69,000 people were eligible for cash assistance, and as of December 2013, more than 400 people were eligible under a program for refugees and repatriated national clients, according to the state Department of Public Welfare website.

But Toohil continues to hear from store clerks, who say people with ACCESS cards are still requesting cash back - often clearing their registers' cash drawers.

"The clerks at the stores come to me - some of them crying," she said. "They say they're killing themselves at these jobs and these people are walking out with 1,500 bucks."

Based on these reports, Toohil contacted welfare Secretary Beverly Mackereth, who said she'd be willing to conduct a sting operation in the Hazleton area with the department or the inspector general's office. DPW does have its own office, which looks at fraud, Toohil noted.

The Program Integrity Office looks to align and strengthen efforts to identify, monitor, and reduce waste, fraud, and abuse of taxpayer dollars, a department spokeswoman said.

"The office is responsible for working across DPW programs to assure that dollars are paid appropriately while enhancing the quality and appropriateness of services delivered to only truly needy and eligible recipients," said Kathleen Gillis, deputy director of communications. "The PIO also collaborates with other state agencies such as the Office of Inspector General (OIG), the Department of Labor and Industry, the Office of the Attorney General, and the Department of Revenue."

She also learned that cash assistance is still available through Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), which is a federal Department of Agriculture program administered by the state. As of December, 192,052 families were eligible for the program, according to the DPW stats.

Another Hazleton native, U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta, R-11, Hazleton, has been working on the fraud federally, now under the Farm Bill that was just passed, officials are able to investigate the use of the federal cash assistance twice a year, she said, based on information provided by the DPW.

Toohil put forward House Bill 1251, which strengthened welfare fraud penalties, during the 2011-12 session, but the legislation died in the Senate, she said. The legislation would have made fraud with an ACCESS card a felony, Toohil said.

"I have police officers who arrest people and find multiple ACCESS card with multiple names," she said. "There is no felony fraud that comes out of that."

Another reform is drug testing for a select group of welfare recipients, she said.

"We did get drug testing, because that's something that the constituents always ask for," Toohil said, adding that many area workers must undergo drug testing at their workplace to keep their jobs.

Across the board drug testing failed because it violated people's Fourth Amendment rights - there must be reasonable cause to drug test, so House Bill 1297 targeted those with drug convictions, she said. This bill helps root out the people who are not only using drugs, but dealing drugs, Toohil said.

"Drug dealers who are coming out of jail and getting back on welfare, they're going to be drug tested," she said.

Addicts and dealers don't lose their public assistance when they go into jail, either, Toohil said. She found out when a father with a heroin-addicted son came to her and asked to stop the benefits, which continued to accrue on the card as his son served time.

The father explained that an addict coming out of prison shouldn't have that much money, because it doesn't help them, she said.

"You have $400 times six months," she said, "And it's all cash."

Toohil believes these benefits should be reviewed administratively, and if a recipient isn't using them, reduce or stop them. She spoke to the department about ending cash carry-over this past week, she said.

Toohil's determination to effect changes has brought reforms, she said. In one instance, a UPS delivery man told her that he was delivering ACCESS cards to one recipient, who complained that he woke her when knocking on the door for a signature.

"They weren't even using the United States Postal Service and that made me upset, because they were spending even more money," she said, adding that 40 percent of the state budget - 40 cents on every dollar in taxes - goes toward welfare.

Toohil complained about the practice, which the then-secretary of the department, didn't even know was occurring, she said.

"So, they started using the United States Postal Service," she said.

Toohil also ended the practice of being able to use the ACCESS cards at casinos, and plans to co-sponsor legislation to forbid the use of electronic benefits to purchase tobacco products, alcohol and lottery tickets.

She would also like to see the "asset test," which was eliminated under Gov. Ed Rendell's administration, returned. Without an asset test, people can continue to live in an expensive home, drive an expensive vehicle and collect public assistance, Toohil said.

"People in this area are struggling," she said. "The people that have welfare cards buying whatever they want â¦ and getting into their really nice SUVS. It makes people sick. People in this area are for an asset test."

Toohil believes that a certain amount of compassion is needed when dealing with welfare reform, because most people do want to ensure children receive care and pregnant mothers and others receive help, she said.

Reform is needed, if for no other reason, to break the culture of dependency, she said.

"We have all these very talented â¦ bright young kids and they see this culture of dependency and they know no better," Toohil said. "If you can get a free cellphone, a free Walmart card for going to the free dentist and get free cash up to $1,500 pulled out of Walmart, you're not ever going to strive for anything better than that.

"Because you can get everything for free," she said. "We need reform because it is so unfair. It's unfair to seniors losing their homes and unfair to children growing up in this cycle of poverty."

kmonitz@standardspeaker.com

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